"Cities are built by men (and to a lesser extent, women),
but they decay by nature, from earthquakes and hurricanes
to the incremental processes of rot, erosion, rust, the
microbial breakdown of concrete, stone, wood, and brick,
the return of plants and animals making their own complex
order that further dismantles the simple order of men.
This nature is allowed to take over when, for economic or
political reasons, maintenance is withdrawn. […]"
"A city is built to resemble a conscious mind, a network
that can calculate, administrate, manufacture. Ruins become
the unconscious of a city, its memory, unknown, darkness,
lost lands, and in this truly bring it to life. With ruins a city
springs free of its plans into something as intricate as life,
something that can be explored but perhaps not mapped."
—REBECCA SOLNIT
A field guide to getting lost
